Town Violation/Municipal Violation Overturned, Insufficient Evidence
Long Island Town and Village Code: Have you ever been charged with violating the “code”? Has code enforcement tried to enter your home? You can and should refuse entry without a warrant. Throughout Long Island, code enforcement by incorporated villages and towns often result in (some very valid) criminal charges for violating the “code.” This can be anything from converting a garage to living space or not mowing the lawn. Here, the defendant was accused an convicted of “viola
Initial Aggressor Exception Clarified: Manslaughter Conviction Reversed
The Defendant here was charged with murder in the second degree. After he came upon a man hitting his brother in the head with a hammer, he stabbed what became the victim. The Defendant testified that he was in his own home when his ex-wife told him that someone was beating his brother up with a hammer down the block. Defendant testified that he ran onto the victim’s porch, tried to break up the fight, and, in the scurry, stabbed the victim in the chest with a knife. Procedur
DUI/DWI causes Fetus Death - Indictment Dismissed
On October 23, 2015, the New York Law Journal (Joel Stashenko) published the article “Woman’s Conviction for Conduct Affecting Fetus Is Dismissed” Arguably, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office should not have brought the case and this woman should not have been convicted of manslaughter for the death of her 6-day-old baby from in-utero injuries sustained in a car accident that she caused by being under the influence. The conviction of Jennifer Jorgensen for a May 20
Criminal Defense: Dismissal on Speedy Trial grounds bars Reprosecution
In this case “[i]t is…undisputed that the remaining eleven months that the motion was pending were not excluded. Accordingly, the Act’s 70‐day indictment‐to‐trial period (commonly referred to as the “speedy trial clock”) was exceeded by approximately nine months.” Bert, at P. 8. “Accordingly, neither party contests that a violation of the Speedy Trial Act occurred. Nor do they question the statute’s unambiguous mandate that the court was required to dismiss the indictment upo
Criminal Defense: Temporary inspection sticker on car - insufficient for search
The New York Law Journal reported that “A temporary inspection sticker on a motor vehicle is insufficient justification for a police search, without any other indication of illegal activity, a state appeals court has ruled.” This case starts out, as one can imagine, when “a sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle in the Town of Southport, Chemung County after observing that it had a temporary inspection sticker.” The occupant, the defendant, flees and is later apprehended. Crack i
